


Hesitation

by MeMyselfAndTARDIS



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-01
Updated: 2015-05-04
Packaged: 2018-03-20 19:18:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3661896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeMyselfAndTARDIS/pseuds/MeMyselfAndTARDIS
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose is left with the Doctor's meta-crisis self, or "John" as she'd prefer to call him, to tie off loose ends. As easy as this may seem, the part Time Lord realises that she must eventually accept the fact that she is simply stuck with him - no matter how many hearts he has.</p><p>Meanwhile, the rainy city of London faces strange disappearances and John and Rose find themselves entwined in London's unsolved case. As the clock ticks amidst suspicion and anxiety, John is forced to ask himself just how far he is prepared to save the one he loves...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One Step at a Time

**Author's Note:**

> Canon: Post "Journey's End" in Pete's World.
> 
> Quick legal garb I wouldn't be saying if only I owned Doctor Who... I don't own TenToo or Rose Tyler. Or any other potential characters in future chapters of this story... *sighs* All these characters respectfully belong to the BBC. *bows*

_"There have been reports of a motorbike crash on the a40 motorway just approaching west London. Police are reluctant to gather witnesses as they have yet to find out the cause of the collision. However, the two passengers were seen speeding in the last two junctions before crashing. Only one of the passengers has survived the crash and recovering from mild cases of concussion. Sadly the other passenger died of severe whiplash and head trauma. We have been requested not to mention the names of the victims."_

**...**

The meta-crisis Doctor leaned towards her, putting a hand on her arm as he gently whispered those three words.

_"I love you."_

**…**

They broke apart from their heated kiss as the TARDIS engines began its hullaballoo. Rose let go of the meta-crisis Doctor's blue lapels and slightly pushed him away, glaring at the fading blue box. She had the inner urge to shout  _"Doctor!"_ But it was as noticeable as the last glimmer of the TARDIS bulb. She felt a hand entwine in hers and looked down. It was the meta-crisis Doctor. They exchanged glances as they took their final glances at the TARDIS.

The moment the engines were heard no more and the winds whipped up by the sentient ship grew fainter until a mere breeze blew by, a deafening silence enshrouded the whole of Bad Wolf Bay. The Doctor squeezed Rose's hand bringing it to her attention that she'd never let go. She looked at him, not knowing what to say. Frankly, the Doctor didn't know what to say either.

**…**

"I've just gotten word from Pete!" Jackie yelled, flailing her mobile phone in search for better signal. "He's sendin' over a zeppelin from Bergen to pick us up! Bloody 'ell, that Doctor could have dropped us off closer to home."

No one replied, despite her attempt to lighten the mood. Rose and the Doctor, or so he was called, were standing right in front of her in the middle of Bad Wolf Bay. Rose suddenly dropped down to the sand and drew her knees towards her and let out silent sobs. The part Time Lord stared in utter horror as Jackie ran towards her daughter.

"John," Rose chocked out, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. She looked at the meta-crisis Doctor. He gazed at her, comprehending what exactly was happening. "Can I call you John?" she nervously asked, finally composing herself. It felt like a giant stab through his heart when he began to understand where Rose was getting at. "John Smith."

"And why the hell would you wanna do that?" Jackie boggled, but he raised a hand to stop the complaining mother.

"If… If you want…" he stammered. He dug his hands further in his pockets and kicked a stray pebble across the sand, trying not to show his distraught face. Rose picked herself up and glared at John and then back at her confused mum.

"I can't look at him and call him "Doctor". He's not the Doctor," she muttered under her breath to Jackie. She walked away leaving Jackie to give an apologetic smile. John stared at Rose's back, growing further and further away as she hastily climbed the various rocks where they sat there talking and taking quick glances at him.

Then his eyes burnt with unshed tears as he stared longingly at the space where the TARDIS used to be nearly five minutes ago. John felt the unmistakable shape of the rock he got given previously in his inner jacket pocket and fell into deep thought. He shivered at the cold sea breeze biting at his skin; That was new, he never shivered from the cold.

The sound of zeppelins became audible over the distance.

**…**

John gazed at the window, looking at the Norwegian scenery below him. It was totally different compared to his accustomed spot by the TARDIS console and running about trying to pilot the ship. Frankly, he liked riding on a zeppelin considering this was his first.

"I was being a jerk."

John jumped at the sudden break in silence and noticed Rose walking towards him. His shoulders tensed and she noticed his uneasiness.

"I didn't mean what I said back at the beach."

He looked down at a loss for what to say. "I… I understand if you still want to call me John," he mumbled. Rose felt a warm smile tug her lips.

"Thank you."

He looked back up at her and noticed she was crying. "Oh, I'm sorry," he breathed, taking a step towards her and holding her in an embrace. She willingly accepted the hug and instinctively wrapped her arms around his back. They stayed like that for a moment before John murmured something Rose couldn't hear. She pulled apart from him.

"Hmm?"

"What I said back at the beach," John murmured. "About spending the rest of my life with you-"

"We'll work it out one step at a time," Rose chipped in. He looked back at her with wide eyes.

"I didn't think you'd want me," he confessed.

"We promised the Doctor to live a happy life together, and we'll live a happy life together," Rose stated. She cupped his cheeks in her hands and she studied him for a moment. Everything about him was the same.

Except...

"John, I've never seen you wear that suit before," Rose suddenly said. Instantly, he looked down at his battered and worn blue suit sustained from events back in the other universe. It was then he realised Rose indeed had never seen the blue suit.

"Oh, I thought I could try out blue," he babbled. She arched a brow. "You know..." he trailed off. "I wear blue when I go to the future. Then a bit of the ol' brown for when I go to the present or past..."

Rose burst out laughing at that, making the part Time Lord frown. "You never looked like the systematic type," she chided. John, however, seemed totally oblivious of the last remark as he studied his outfit. Then a look of nervousness crossed his face.

"Why, what's wrong with blue? I mean I could change the outfit. Donna said it was  _"bonkers"_. Even my inner Donna doesn't seem impressed. Maybe I should have just stuck to one colour..."

"John."

"Did you like the brown one? I thought it was a little too brown. What with the brown long coat and all. Yeah, it was a bit too brown."

" _John_."

"Is it the tie? It  _is_ the tie, oh I knew it was the tie," he suddenly groaned. "But it matches with the trainers."

"..."

"I mean compared to the other outfits I wore..." he winced at a memory. "Yeah, I admit the colourful coat wasn't exactly brave, but it was the 70s fashion in my defence... Oh okay, celery wasn't exactly the most fashionable thing but not a lot of men can pull off a decorative vegetable-"

"JOHN." His mouth instantly shut with an audible snap. To his surprise however, he found Rose laughing in front of him - a very rare sight seeing the kind of situation he found himself in. "Celery?" she chortled.

"Gas indicator," he corrected, only to get a very confused glance in return.

"Colourful coat?" she began.

"Oh, don't get me started," he warned.

They suddenly both burst out laughing and John saw this as a golden opportunity. "I love you," he finally let out. The laughter suddenly faded.

"I… I love you, too..." Rose mumbled. Then a smile formed on John's lips. They both gazed at each other for a very brief moment.

"Tea?" he suddenly asked.

"Tea," Rose replied with a tongue in teeth smile that made him melt.

"Well then, Dame Rose Tyler of the Powell Estate," he said, puffing up his chest and giving a salute. "Your wish is my command." Rose burst out laughing as she watched him bound towards the zeppelin kitchen.

John entered the kitchen and leaned on the counter top, letting out a winding sigh. He tried to steady his erotic breathing and scrunched the bridge of his nose. He gritted his teeth, trying to prevent that inner Donna from taking a shine and making him let out all his emotions. He steadied himself before a tear trickled upon his cheek.

_She doesn't love you. You're just a cheap imitation of him._

John felt a lump form in his throat. His mind was a war zone between conflicting emotions and thoughts. He began reasoning with himself. Rose kissed him back at the beach, why would she kiss him? Did she just kiss him over a couple of flattering words he whispered in her ear? Is she playing the  _"I love you"_ act just because she made a promise to  _him_? Then he realized after Rose apologized to him just two minutes ago. She hesitated when she said she loved him…

_She doesn't love you. You're just a cheap imitation of him._

**…**

Being the wife of a millionaire surely didn't pay off enough for Jackie Tyler as she slumped by the bar her husband's zeppelin had to offer. Why couldn't he send over a  _faster_  mode of transport? The zeppelin just... drifts in mid air. Frankly, she doubted the zeppelin was even  _moving_... She scowled as she held up her mobile phone, praying to God for an extra bar on the top of that mobile screen to appear so she'd enough signal to call that silly husband. For goodness sake, she could _cycle_  from Norway to London and get there before the zeppelin. On second thoughts...

She took a more half-hearted sip of red wine before a dreadful thought crossed her mind and she pushed the glass away. She couldn't arrive in England in front of her son all tipsy... she glanced at her watch and sighed. Four hours to go... If she remembered correctly, a plane flight from Norway to London was only three hours... Jackie sighed again. She was being pessimistic. She just got her daughter back along with the man who could potentially spend the rest of his life with her. Then her mind tore to John. Or the Doctor. Whichever name it was. Jackie had a sense of sorrow for both of them, but almost thanked the Doctor for leaving her daughter. If he loved her, he would have left her here with the man who was obviously perfect for her and he did so. But the question lies in whether Rose is fine with that... then she remembered her little conversation with Rose at Bad Wolf Bay whilst waiting for the zeppelin.

**...**

_"I don't know what to do, mum," Rose croaked, drawing her knees even closer to her body. "It's not him."_

_"Rose, he loves you," Jackie stated simply. If she had to yell at her daughter for her to get the message, she would have done it if it weren't for John being a couple of meters away from them. "If he doesn't, he wouldn't have left you in that beach to live a better life with your family and that man," she said, pointing a finger at the tall man looking distant over the shores. "He was practically born to live his life with you." Rose looked at the grief stricken man in the distance with guilt. "Do you love 'im"_

_"... yes. I don't know..." Rose muttered. Jackie looked sternly at her daughter. "I get what you're tryin' to say, but every time I look at him, I think of him... I can't spend the rest of my life looking at his face from time to time and suddenly start cryin'..."_

_Jackie sighed. "I understand too, sweetheart. You saw how me and Pete started..." Rose laughed._

_"He made you that romantic dinner and you shouted at him because apparently dad was never romantic," she chortled._

_"Yeah, you get my point," Jackie waved off with a chuckle. You're just gonna have to work things out with him one step at a time. It will definitely work. You two I mean." Rose looked intently at her mother._

_"Yeah?"_

_"Yeah," Jackie confirmed. "You two were practically made for each other. I haven't seen you two all those times, but every time you came over to visit, you two were just bogglin' at each other." Rose blushed at that._

_"Yeah, thanks for the info, mum," she tried to bat off._

_"Promise me one thing?" Jackie asked. Rose nodded and gestured for her mum to continue. "Don't do anythin' stupid. If things somehow don't turn up good between you two, don't shun 'im." she said, gesturing at John who was beginning to approach them. "The least he deserves is to be treated like a close friend yeah?"_

_"Yeah..."_

**...**

From what Jackie had already seen and heard the few hours that had passed back at Bad Wolf Bay, she could already tell they didn't have it good for each other. She stole another glance at her watch and groaned. A mere four minutes had passed since she last checked... she hoped to God the journey won't appear to be longer after the awkwardness between her daughter and John.

Jackie pushed herself from the bar and smiled at the bartender before heading into the lobby. What she never thought she'd see was John sat on a passenger seat by the window with Rose almost curled up on him, both sleeping. Both clinging onto each other with peaceful expressions on their faces. It had been a long time since she saw her daughter sleep so soundly. Jackie smiled at the much longing sight before turning back in the direction to the bar. This needed celebrating.

**...**

Rose offered to let John stay in her apartment in North London. He willingly and thankfully accepted her offer on the condition that he slept on the sofa. Rose gave a wry smile as she put down her keys.

"Like I said, we'll work it out a step at a time," she murmured. Never in her life would she have expected to return with the man who was  _like_  him, let alone return to the parallel universe. She prepared for the Doctor, not John… but she made a promise. John nodded before unbuttoning his jacket and shrugging it off. He paced around the room, totally unsure what to do. He really wasn't up for the domestic life... He slumped on the sofa looking distant when Rose came back into the living room with a bowl of popcorn. John looked up at her.

"One step at a time," he grinned.

"Yeah," she giggled, sitting on the sofa and shuffling near him before stretching out for the TV remote. He took this as an opportunity to put his arms around her and he did so. She explored some channels before settling for  _Friends_  and proceeded with a mouthful of popcorn. John instinctively muzzled her hair and Rose jolted slightly.

"Sorry," he muttered.

"No, it's okay," she quickly responded, not looking at him. He sighed before reaching around her form and taking a handful of popcorn from the bowl she hugged tightly. He had to do something, just  _something_.  _Anything..._  Nothing over the top he thought. The hair muzzling went too far - he was lucky Rose didn't flip out at that. But all he could do was think about the years he could have spent wooing a girl instead of making the sonic screwdriver... A brief silence fell between the two as they both stared at the TV for the next ten painfully long minutes. "The popcorn's finished." Rose suddenly said. The Doctor blinked and peered into the now empty bowl.

"Oh…"

Then Rose sighed. "This isn't working out," she muttered.

"Yeah, we'll be needing more than just one bowl of popcorn," John murmured. Rose burst out laughing.

"It's not what I was getting at, but yeah…"

"Oh…"

Rose began to get slightly irritated. "Stop saying  _"oh"_ , he's never lost for words."

" _"He"_?!" John echoed, feeling like his heart just got ripped out of his chest and rolled in shards of glass. Rose saw his hurt expression and quickly cupped his face in her hands.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she murmured.

"Yeah, I understand…" he trailed off.

"I promise we'll get through this." Rose began after another awkward silence.

"Yeah…" John gazed at her for what felt like the hundredth time in the last half hour. "What if… What if we don't?" Rose stared hard into John's eyes.

"Tha's not gonna happen, yeah?" she stated with steel in her voice. He nodded, feeling slightly reassured. Then to his utter surprise, Rose hesitated before giving him a kiss on the cheek. She smiled and poked his chest. "We're gonna need four bowls of popcorn."


	2. Making a Move

_Rose hesitated and placed a hand on his chest. She gazed at him after feeling the heartbeat of his lonely heart._

_"Oh, and don't forget this. This universe is in need of defending." The Doctor tossed the object to his Meta-Crisis self. He caught the object and glanced at it. It looked more like a lump of rock to him and he gave a questioning look at the real Doctor. "Chunk of TARDIS. Grow your own," he concluded._

_"That takes thousands of years…" the Meta-Crisis Doctor objected. The Doctor hesitated, but insisted on reasoning with his clone._

_"No because-"_

_"If you shatter fry the plasmid shell," Donna interrupted. "And modified the dimensional stabilizer to a fold back harmonic of 36.3, you… accelerate the growth path by 59." The two Doctors and Rose stared at the ginger companion in awe. That's right… She had the mind of a Time Lord._

_"We never thought of that!" the Doctors said in unison. Donna grinned in realization._

_"I'm brilliant!" she exclaimed. The Meta-Crisis Doctor beamed at her whilst his real version gazed at him and Rose._

_"The Doctor," he said. "In the TARDIS with Rose Tyler."_

**…**

John's eyes flashed open as he shook his head to reality. He looked around and found himself on the sofa, spooning Rose in his arms, her back pressed against his chest. Her body felt warm and he closed his eyes in relief as he delved in the pleasure of her presence. Talk about one step at a time… Then he yawned and blinked.

He had that dream again. The same one from when he decided to take a quick nap on the zeppelin ride to London.

On second thoughts, he'd rather call it a flashback.

Did it really happen a few hours ago? Scrap that, is all this  _still_ real? He felt the beat of his single and lonely heart – solid proof that he's still that meta-crisis clone of the Doctor. Honestly, it felt like a cursed seal of approval that he was just a mere imitation of  _him_. He estimated it to be around 3am and scowled. Not only did he wake up unnecessarily during the middle of the night but he slept for a mere three hours. Cautiously, he raised his arm, pulled it away from Rose's body and gently eased his other arm out from under her. She groaned and he froze, but she simply rolled to her other side facing him. He studied his Rose for a moment. A strand of blonde hair brushed her glowing, porcelain-like skin. Her hair was a slight mess, but it was perfectly understandable. Whose hair doesn't get messed up during sleep? Yet he thought the sight looked cute. Frankly, John saw it as the picture of perfection. Had she smiled, the world would sigh with contentment. Had she laughed, the world would laugh with her, and God forbid, if she ever wept, the whole world would want to comfort her.

John blinked. He didn't deserve her. The Doctor just dumped him with her so he can wander off in that other stupid universe. He immediately and expertly eased his other arm out from under Rose's body without ever so much as waking her and peeled himself out of the sofa. John silently tiptoed towards the window, relying on the light the moon casted through the window shutters to guide where he was moving and avoid spilt bowls of popcorn. He poked his finger through the opening of the shutters and peered outside through the glass doors of the patio. It was still raining in the middle of the night.  _Typical London…_

He continued gazing out the window and fell into a deep hole of thought. His mind decided to examine himself from a physical point of view: Although he had the genes of a Time Lord, the human qualities seemed more dominant in him. Unlike his original self, he can no longer sense any fixed points in time, temporal fluctuations and the general "timey wimey" sorts. This made the Doctor feel much lesser than he felt, but the thought of not knowing any possible futures of this universe excited him. He can do  _anything_ without knowing what's going to happen and any precaution was totally unknown to him. This was something that constricted most of his original self's actions in the other universe. He's in a whole different universe and with no idea of what possible futures or histories it held; surely anyone wouldn't resist the temptation to poke around.

He held his breath... Two minutes, fifty-five seconds and twenty eight milliseconds. He can hold his breathe for a puny two minutes, fifty-five seconds and twenty eight milliseconds before possibly fainting… that was pretty average. For a human. To his utter annoyance, he had no respiratory bypass system, considering the amount of times it had saved his life. But the one giant and most obvious change was his single heart. Its beats were rather steady and less… frantic than having two hearts. But it certainly didn't forgive the fact that if this particular heart failed on him unlike the numerous times in his full Time Lord self, he was a goner… He scowled. How did these humans cope?! John almost felt utterly stripped. It was then he began to appreciate this race even more.

He frowned as he realized how open to emotions he was thanks to the inner Donna in him. Right about now, he felt like crying and it annoyed him. Pile that with the hormones and he was practically an emotional turmoil judging from the situation he had found himself annoyingly stuck in. His neck suddenly craned to Rose as she began to murmur in her sleep.  _Bad dreams, eh?_ John instinctively darted back to the sofa where he clambered back in and hugged Rose, hoping it was enough to comfort her. It was to his sheer and utter horror did he make out what she was saying in her sleep and he let loose the grey clouds in his mind.

He silently cried.

**…**

They fell asleep on the sofa. Rose was the first to wake up being spooned by John. His arms wrapped around her waist and his head rested by her shoulders. His shock of brown hair tickled her nose and she yawned. A great big yawn. She studied his sleeping face. It was beautiful and yet he looked so peaceful. It suddenly struck her that she had never seen the Doctor in such a peaceful state. He never slept… She wriggled her hand free and poked John's cheek. He merely stirred and subconsciously hugged her harder. She rolled her eyes and lamely reached out across to the coffee table and glanced at her phone when she read nineteen missed calls from her dad. She sighed and proceeded to read a text from her dad.

_BEEN CALLING YOU. COME TO TORCHWOOD WHEN YOU'RE READY. BRING JOHN._

She noticed the message was sent at 7am. Then she read the time on the little screen. It was 1pm.

"Oh, crap!" she yelled. John, in turn, yelped at her sudden outburst and flopped off the sofa in an unceremonious heap. He blinked countless times before focusing on Rose's figure darting across the living and into the bedroom where she came back out and threw a pillow at him. "Oi, sleepyhead. Wake up." He groaned after having only a few hours of sleep since waking up in the middle of the night to Rose murmuring in her sleep. It hurt him some more the moment he realized she had been dreaming about the Doctor... what she'd been saying in her sleep didn't need saying... He shook his head from thought.

"Rose?"

There was the sound of clattering in the bathroom followed by the sound of running water. "We're expected at Torchwood," Rose managed to let out. It was obvious she was brushing her teeth.

"What for?" he boggled, picking himself up and brushing his suit.

"Dunno… get changed."

John arched a brow and glanced down at the only clothes he had already being worn. It would be a mistake to assume he customarily slept in his accustomed outfit. "Okay," he lamely replied.

**…**

John sat opposite the Torchwood operative who continued typing his details on her computer. He went through the process of what he'd like to call "registering himself to the "other universe"." And as for the "other universe", he liked the name of "Pete's World", just because it sounded right. And amusing. Frankly, John doubted anyone would care… The room was awfully quiet and he shuffled in his seat not liking how restrained he felt, even though he  _wasn't_  restrained. He looked at the operative and frowned with envy at her long ginger hair tied in a bun. It struck him that he forgot that woman's name. Abigail? No, it had more syllables than that. Amber? No, the ratio of vowels to consonants doesn't seem right. Angela? John scrunched his face in deep concentration. He was sure he read it on her door plaque. How could he forget? Humans  _do_ have shorter than usual memory spans… Then he resorted to fiddling with his tie before the operative looked back at him to ask the usual series of questions.

"Name?" she asked in a Scottish accent.

"Amelia!" he blurted. The operative frowned at him and shook her head.

"No,  _your_ name. Not mine." John shrunk in his chair. "And for the record, Amelia is my long name, call me Amy. Amy Pond."

"Amelia Pond," he echoed and smiled. "I like that, it sounds like something out of a fairy tale. Why did you change it?" he wondered. Amy rolled her eyes.

"Enough about my name, what about  _yours?_ " She grinned, as the question seemed to distract him.

"My real name?"

Amy sat there completely bewildered. "Yes, your real name."

"The Doctor," he replied with a tone of seriousness - maybe a bit too serious to be sane. Amy frowned again.

"Doctor who?"

"Exactly," he nodded, but she sighed impatiently.

"Don't you have a full name?"

"Oh!" he realized. "John Smith."

Amy blinked.

"You're just making that up aren't you?"

"Well, I could have added something like "Roberts" in the middle," he trailed off. Amy sighed and typed  _"John Smith"_.

"Age?"

"Nine hundred and six."

"…" Amy stared at the man from behind her computer and typed  _"thirty-six"_.

"Your occupation?" John tilted his seat back and hummed in thought.

Something struck his mind and he bounded from his seat. Amy brought herself back almost instantly at the sudden action. "I can work for you!" he exclaimed, pointing at her. Amy raised a brow and typed  _"freelance"_. "No, seriously," he insisted. "With my vast knowledge of alien technology, I can help out with Torchwood."

"Yes, I'll make sure Pete gets a hold of that proposal," Amy waved off. She finished typing a few more details and turned back to the Doctor. "Your documents and passports will be ready by tomorrow the latest. As for your gun license-"

"No, I won't be needing that," he interrupted.

"But it's Torchwood policy," Amy stated. "Every associate of Torchwood requires any form of weapon for protection."

"Trust me. I'm fine," he reassured. "Besides, I've got this," he added, tapping his head. Amy just rolled her eyes and continued typing the final details onto the system. Finally, she nodded at him and stood up from her chair. The Doctor did so too and shook the operative's hand. "Nice to meet you,  _Amelia Pond,_ " he teased. She only rolled her eyes for the second time and escorted him out of the room.

**…**

"Rose?"

Rose's head perked up from her desk as she followed the awfully familiar voice. "Mum?" she boggled. "What are you doin' here?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing, sweetheart," Jackie began, strolling into Rose's office. "Aren't you supposed to be bondin' with  _you know who_?" Rose rolled her eyes at that and to her disappointment; Jackie knew she had it bad for John.

"He's upstairs doin' some paperwork. Dad needs to give him an easy transition into this universe," Rose sighed.

"Do you love 'im?" Jackie asked, clearly ignorant of how Rose might have reacted. Rose was quiet, not looking up from her paperwork.

"…Yes."

Jackie stared at her daughter busying herself with some files. "Do you love 'im?" she repeated.

"YES," she exclaimed, slamming a book on top of her work. A deafening silence enveloped the two for a brief moment.

"You still love  _him_ , don't you?" Rose saw where her mum was getting at and buried her head in her hands.

"… Yes."

A new wave of sadness filled Jackie's heart for Rose and for John. "C'mon," she said, trying to change the subject. "Let's 'ave lunch, I'm  _starving_."

"I'll catch up with you, I just need to sort out some documents…" Rose trailed off. Jackie groaned.

"You're not even supposed to be workin'! It's your day off!" she complained and sauntered off. Then she called out from the hallway outside Rose's office. "I won't be in the canteen for long since I have to pick up Tony from school."

Rose watched as her mother entered the elevator. She wiped her eyes and composed herself before hurrying out of her office.

As she entered the hallway, she spotted a brown spiky haired man in a blue pinstripe suit hopping on one leg in the middle of the corridor. Rose blinked.

"John?"

He looked up at her and gave his infectious grins, almost losing his balance and nearly toppling over if it wasn't for a nearby wall he leaned on. Rose couldn't help but laugh at the sight. "I just finished registering my details for my documents, I guess it's safe to say I legally exist on your universe now," he chuckled. They both smiled at each other (a rare sight for them both) and Rose poked him on the chest.

"You hungry?"

" _Famished!_ " he exclaimed, clutching his stomach. A little part of her died inside. He was never hungry… Rose arched a brow and studied him to try cover up her dreadful thoughts.

"You've never been hungry before," she said, poking his stomach. They entered the elevator as Rose pressed the "ground floor" button. "The only things I ever see you eat back then were chips, some cupcakes back in the 1953 Coronation and some toast or cereals for breakfast in the TARDIS. I don't understand how you can still run on little food." John hummed.

"I got it from Donna," he replied. "And when I was a Time Lord, I didn't need much food to keep me going because Time Lords have two stomachs. The other stomach preserves food for energy. They can easily survive without food and water for days. Except we get delirious after forty days… you wouldn't like a delirious Time Lord, Rose." Rose looked completely taken aback and all John could do was to give a wry smile. "I've got the physiology of a human thanks to Donna, so yeah…"

"Time Lords are weird," Rose giggled.

" _Oi!_ " he got back. "I'm technically part Time Lord." There was a brief silence in the elevator before Rose looked back at John with a grin. They both chuckled. "Oh and here's the best bit: Time Lords can't get drunk," he said rather smugly.

"No…" Rose breathed.

"Yup," he replied, popping the "p". I once won a…" he trailed off turning red at the next thing he was about to say. "No, don't worry…"

"No, tell me!" Rose practically demanded. He scratched the back of his head.

"I won a pair of red knickers that Audrey Hepburn owned in a drinking bet against Andrea Dotti in 1973. First one to get drunk loses. For every shot of vodka he drank, I had two…" he trailed off, looking up. "I had twenty four shots and still survived," he murmured, looking back at Rose with a wary smile.

"You had a drinking contest over Audrey Hepburn's knickers," Rose slowly explained.

"Yup."

"Against Audrey Hepburn's husband."

"Yup."

"And you had two shots of vodka for every shot he took."

"Yup."

"You had twenty four shots… Oh my God, Andrea Dotti had  _twelve_  shots?!"

"Explains why he had some crude affairs…" John muttered. "Poor Audrey. The kind of things you humans do when you're drunk." Rose stared at him. That's it. She was a million percent done.

"So what Time Lord qualities do you possess if you got the human physiology?" she asked, trying to change the topic. The Doctor scrunched his face in concentration, trying to find an easy way of explaining the topic to Rose.

"For starters and the most obvious, I have my brains. I'm ten times more clever than a normal human being," he grinned. Rose rolled her eyes.

"Well, you still have your big egoistic head," she teased before gesturing for him to continue.

"Oh, and I still have my telepathic abilities thanks to my superior brain."

"Is there anything  _not_ including your brain?" Rose asked seriously and he laughed. Then remembered something else.

"Now that I'm not fully Time Lord," he continued. "I don't have what I'd like to call the "sixth sense"."

"You had six senses?" Rose asked in disbelief.

"Yup," he replied, popping the 'p'. "Time Lords can sense temporal… stuff. Like whether something or someone is a fixed point in time, or whether there's a paradox occurring, any timey wimey stuff, all the sorts." He looked at Rose. "I can't sense that. So I don't know this universe's past, present and even future. I guess that's a good thing, since we can finally do whatever we like." Rose smiled at that. "Except the stuff that involves wiping out species and all…" he trailed off. "It's just that… Oh, it's nothing."

"What?"

He produced a lump of rock with an orange tinge to it. There was no mistake that was the TARDIS coral the Doctor passed onto John. "I've been wondering about growing our own TARDIS." He pursed his lips, preparing himself for what Rose had to say. As she opened her mouth, he hesitated and proceeded to babble, completely scared she would get angry. "I-I completely understand if you disagree because we only have one life to live and going around time and space is very, very dangerous. It's just that there's is a whole new universe to explore…" To his surprise, she didn't do the usual sigh and long lecture, but smiled.

"Yeah…" she trailed off. "Yeah, I think it's brilliant."

"…" John blinked. "Really?" Rose gave him that tongue in teeth smile that made him swoon.

"I might get bored," she simply replied, "staying on this planet for the rest of our lives and all…"

John beamed like a loon. He looked exactly like the Doctor when something good was going to happen. The moment John turned his back to press the "Ground floor" button; she let out a winding sigh. If she was going to live a happy life with him, she had to at least make a move. She looked up as he made an uneasy noise. "Wha's wrong?"

"There's a slight problem. Just a tiny teensy weensy problem…" he murmured, holding up his thumb and index finger close to one another to indicate how apparently small the problem was.

"What?"

"Shatter frying the plasmid shell is the most doable bit…" he trailed off. "But modifying the dimensional stabilizer to a fold back harmonic of 36.3 isn't."

"Oh…" Rose mumbled. "It's okay, we can find a way to modify the dimensional thing to a fold back harmony of 36.3."

"Modify the dimensional stabilizer to a fold back harmonic of 36.3," he corrected with a smirk. His tone suddenly changed to that of disappointment. "But it requires a  _lot_ of energy… the technology here on Earth isn't advanced enough to produce or induce such amounts of energy, let alone handle it." Rose looked at the John's face with a raised brow. "What's with the look?"

"Who said we could just use Earth technology?" she grinned.

"What?" he boggled.

"My dad's the head of  _Torchwood_ , silly," she giggled. "We'll find some sorta alien thing."

"Oh, I forgot! This new universe gives me a totally different perspective to things," John laughed. "Oh, you're brilliant, Rose Tyler."

"Tha's what he always says," she subconsciously blurted out. It took a moment for Rose to realize what she'd said and she slapped her hand to her mouth. "I'm so sorry." John forced a smile.

"I understand…"

The elevator pinged and the doors parted, revealing Torchwood's main foyer. It was a  _very_ brave move, but Rose offered a tentative hand. John looked at it wide eyed wondering what to do. It eventually struck him that  _she_ was offering her hand. Not him. He gratefully, but more nervously took her hand. Hand in hand, the two sauntered out of the elevator and headed for the cafeteria. A few heads turned to them, making John a little uneasy. Rose saw this and squeezed his hand.

"Ignore them," she whispered. "They've heard so many good things about you back when you were in the other universe. You're like their idol." John smiled at that. They approached the noisy cafeteria heaving with enthusiastic Torchwood operatives. The smell of fish and chips wafted in Rose's face and she smiled. John noticed this and grinned. He suddenly made an uneasy hum and nudged Rose's shoulder and pointed towards Rose's father. Within one of the tables, the unmistakable voice of Pete Tyler could be heard and frankly, he was calling for John and Rose the minute he spotted them. Rose held back and let go of his hand.

"You think you could encourage him to help with our "Grow your own TARDIS" scheme?" he wondered, studying her dad's almost frantic waves to get their attention.

"What? Why me? Isn't this too sudden? Won't he get all  _"overprotective father"_ on me?"

"I'll get our food, you can go to your dad," he babbled, pushing Rose towards the direction towards her father.

"But-but," she complained. "You don't even know what food I'm having!"

"Fish and chips. You also want an extra portion of chips with salt and vinegar and ketchup splattered all over it but not too much that all the cod is covered in it," he muttered. Rose looked at him.

"How did you know?"

"I read your mind, and that's how you always get your fish and chips," he simply replied and hurried off to the counter. Rose stopped for a brief moment and realized he  _can_ read her mind thanks to his part Time Lord brain. Or did he know her so well? She sighed and edged nearer her dad who was shooing other Torchwood staff to leave his table. John just wanted her to face Pete herself. She'll get him for that.

"Nineteen missed calls," her father said seriously. Rose rolled her eyes.

"Yeah sorry…"

"So how's John?" he wondered. "Biscuit?" he asked, gesturing to a pile of biscuits on his tray. She waved it off with thanks before looking intently at the part Time Lord talking happily with another Torchwood operative whilst pointing at various fruit by the counter.

"Yeah, he's fine."

"Oh, Jackie was here a few minutes ago before she went to collect Tony from school. She sent all her hugs and kisses to you and John."

Rose frowned. "Yeah tell her  _"thanks"_."

Pete gazed at his daughter and cleared his throat. "I um… I heard about him."

"Yes you did," Rose began with an air of annoyance.

As if on cue, John approached the two with trays of food on both hands. He looked at Rose with an expression that said,  _"did you tell him?"_ Rose couldn't help but smirk. "John, I think there was something you wanted to tell my dad?" He gaped at her and if Rose had a camera on her right now, she would have taken a picture of his priceless facial expression.

"Yeah…" he trailed off, staring at Rose with an expression that said  _"I'm gonna get you for that."_ He laid the food trays on the table as he settles for a seat next to Rose so he was facing directly opposite Pete. Then he looked back at Rose. "Sorry, they ran out of ketchup, but thankfully, you have me and my dimensionally transcendental pockets," he babbled to Rose.

"What?"

In reply to her question, he produced a bottle of ketchup from his inner jacket pocket making Rose laugh. Pete arched a brow.

"You think Torchwood can get hold of that Time Lord science?" he asked. John shook his head, proceeding to open a packet of crisps.

"Transdimensional engineering was created by my people. Technology here on Earth or even alien technology contained in Torchwood isn't complex enough to even harness one dimension… Even after trying, Earth can't even harness the power to vortex travel against the natural flow of the fourth dimension. Don't get me wrong, you humans have a  _brilliant_ imagination, I'd give you that." Pete gaped at that.

"I don't know what you said, but I'll take your word on that," he chuckled. John raised a brow and ran his hands through his hair making it stand on end. Rose giggled at that - she always thought his hair defied gravity itself. She took the bottle of ketchup from the table and poured its contents all over her chips.

"Yeah, speaking of dimensionally transcending," she said more loudly. John saw where she was going and rolled his eyes.

"Dimensionally transcendental," he corrected before looking at Pete. "We're planning on growing our own TARDIS." Pete gaped at that and then looked at Rose.

"Don't you think that after growing your TARDIS, you're putting yourself in a little more danger travelling back in time and space?" Rose sighed at that.

"I understand you're a little worried-" Rose got cut off the minute she noticed Pete's serious look and she rolled her eyes. "Okay,  _really_ worried, but me and John can't exactly stay on this planet and do… normal stuff for the rest of our lives."

" _"The rest of our lives"_ ," Pete echoed. "You make it sound pretty intimate," he chuckled. Rose, however, returned the remark with a serious look. John noticed this and felt a little hurt.

"I know this is a big request from me and your daughter," he said. "But could I kindly ask for your help in growing our TARDIS?" Pete sighed.

"I'm still unsure that I want to let you grow a TARDIS…" Rose groaned at that and pleaded her dad.

"I'm  _not_ having a boring life on Earth," she pouted, stuffing a chip in her mouth. But Pete stubbornly shook his head.

"I'm not letting you in harm's way," he exclaimed, leaning closer to his daughter. "I'm your father, Rose. It's my role to protect you."

"Hmm… he's stubborn. You got it from him," John mumbled under his breath to Rose. She rolled her eyes as John looked back at Pete. "Pete, if I can have my say in this, if-" John stopped and corrected himself. " _When_  we grow our TARDIS, I'll promise to protect your daughter. And that's a promise I'll never break," he explained slowly. He then took a bite out of his chicken wrap and took a sip of tea, eyeing Rose's dad. "And I never break promises," he said over a mouthful of food. Pete gazed at the two stubborn and defiant faces before him and sighed.

"I can't really let you two down, can't I?" Pete mumbled. And with that, Rose squealed with happiness and dived to her father in a hug causing a few Torchwood staff around them to look at their boss in amusement. John smiled at the sight and took another bite from his wrap. Rose let go of her father, grinning from ear to ear as Pete coughed and straightened his tie. "I'll see what we can find in Torchwood, John," he said. "Just tell us what you need and we'll get to work straight away."

"Actually, do you by any chance know of a way to produce a lot of energy? And when I say a lot of energy, I mean a  _lot_." John emphasized the last part by stretching out his arms, his right hand still holding his wrap.

"What kind of  _"a lot"_?" Pete frowned, already feeling uneasy about the idea.

"3800000000000000000000000000 Joules," he replied almost instantly.

"…" Pete blinked. "That's the amount of energy the  _sun_ produces. How the hell are we supposed to do that?!" he practically yelled out of surprise. John raised his hands in surrender.

"I know, I know!" He exclaimed in mock exasperation. "I just thought that you might have some sort of energy amplifier stacked around in your base. We could probably use that…" Pete huffed.

"As a matter of fact, we found an energy amplifier on a cyber ship back during the Cyber Invasion," he stated. "But it only triplicates its energy input – it won't give out enough energy, besides, what do you even need the energy for?"

"Modifying the dimensional stabilizer to a fold back harm-"

"Okay, okay," Pete interrupted, already not getting John's techno-babble. "All I'm saying is that we need to find something that can produce enough energy to match the sun's when tripled," Pete reviewed. "How are we gonna find that?" John shrugged.

"We'll find something… eventually," he concluded. Pete noticed Rose's anxious face and sighed.

"We'll see what we can do," Rose's dad finally let out. "After all that, I can't exactly let you down now..." he huffed.

"Thank you," John said with sincere gratitude. Pete simply nodded but turned to the sudden ringing of his mobile phone on the table. At once, he answered it.

"Pete Tyler," he answered. "… Yes, wait actually, I'm a little…  _What_?! … You're kidding me… No… Yes, okay." He hung up and gave a winding sigh.

"What's wrong?" John asked.

"There are reports of something "falling from the sky" and my crew on duty got to the source of it all," Pete grumbled. "Jake insisted that I come and check it out."

"Jake? Jake Simmonds?" John asked rather excitedly, clearly oblivious to what Pete was getting at. "I haven't seen him in a long time! How is he?"

"Yeah, he's fine," Pete muttered. "But I was scheduled to visit the labs and see how the guys in charge of the alien technology are doing. I heard the AT department aren't doing so well so I need to assess them…"

"AT?" John wondered.

"Stands for Alien Tech," Pete answered. He dropped his head to his hands and scrubbed his face. "Ever since the AT department in Torchwood have gone downhill almost a year ago, my job has been too hectic."

"Why, what's happening with the AT department?"

"They haven't been doing their jobs properly. It's not that they're terrible, they can't exactly determine what certain bits of alien tech. We constantly find more and more alien stuff. Blimey, John you ask too much questions," Pete exclaimed.

"Why don't you let John help?" Rose chipped in. Both men looked at her. "I mean he's good with alien stuff." John's eyes glinted.

"She has a point," he said. "I  _do_ know a thing or two about alien technology," he insisted. Pete smiled at that.

"In that case, you're hired. I want you to start right away…" Pete got up from the dining table and waved back at them and hurried out of the cafeteria. John beamed at Rose.

"Oh, you  _brilliant_  pink and yellow woman!" He let out, grabbing her in an embrace.

"Pink and yellow?" Rose laughed. "Okay." Honestly, she liked the sound of that. They finally broke apart. "I thought I'd use my initiative - take use of you and your  _"superior brain"_ ," she teased. John grinned and finished the last bite of his wrap.

"It's brilliant because we're both working in Torchwood." Rose gave him that tongue in teeth smile and he looked down with a blushing face. "Reckon I'll get my own office?"

"If you work hard enough," Rose giggled as she ate a mouthful of chips. The doctor hummed. He looked down at his banana and then over at her. "What?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing..." Rose sighed at that.

"What is it?" she persisted.

"It's just that…" he resisted the urge to say it. Those four words he'd been meaning to ask. No, it wasn't the right time… He went for something else. "I just realized I only have one suit and I'm wearing it," he thought out loud. "I can't live in a new universe with one suit!" Rose gaped at him.

"You're right…"

"I'm gonna have to head out and buy some new clothes…" he murmured.

"I'm coming with you," Rose stated.

"Oh, Rose you don't have to if you're going to be busy…" he insisted, tugging at his ear. "Besides, your father just made me a Torchwood operative two minutes, thirty three seconds and fifty-two milliseconds ago and he already wants me to start my shift..."

"Blimey, you're timing's uncanny," she breathed. "No, don't even start," she warned as she sensed another egotistic rant when he began to point at his head. "I'm not staying in the apartment doin' nothing and you've got no money which I happen to have, so I'm going with you to look for clothes." She shoved him lightly. John was silent for a brief moment before he got the bigger picture.

"Oh…" Then he laughed at her.

"What?" she asked. He calmed down and looked at her.

"I've existed for one day in this universe and look at what I've already achieved," he exclaimed over a mouthful of crisps. "Future transport, a fake identity, a job and I'm getting a new outfit."


	3. Letting it All Out

When John said he wanted to get some new outfits after work, Rose didn't expect to find herself in a suit store in the high street at 7pm. "John," she called out, but he seemed totally oblivious in the midst of bounding from one side of the shop to the other studying different types of suits. "John, why are we here?" He looked up in the midst of examining the fabric of a black suit before perking his head up to meet Rose.

"To get new clothes," he replied indifferently, as if pointing out the obvious. "Well, it's the same place I usually get my outfits from in the other universe so it  _should_ have the suit I'm looking for…" Before Rose even objected, he encountered one of the shop staff. "Ah! 'allo… Adam Mitchell?" he boggled, reading his name tag and shaking his hand with extreme enthusiasm. "Nice name, Adam Mitchell," he babbled, feeling a pang of homesickness for the other universe.

"Adam Mitchel?" Rose echoed, staring at the man and back at John. "He's…" she trailed off, pointing a finger at Adam and then making hand gestures to express her lack of speech.

"Yes, Rose, his name is Adam," John muttered, discretely shaking his head, begging for her to shut up. "Sorry about her," he said nervously to Adam. "She's delusional."

"But he's…" Rose chipped in. "The brain thing," she squeaked, pointing at her forehead. "From Satellite 5!"

"I need a suit," John began quite loudly, hoping to God Rose wouldn't cause a stir…

"Well…" Adam chuckled, gesturing at the store full of suits. "You've come to the right place. What particular style are you looking for?"

" _We-ell…_ " he trailed off, elongating the "well" like how  _he_  always did it which made Rose die a little inside… John gestured at his current clothes. "You don't by any chance have this style? I like this style. It's brilliant! Fits snuggly to the body and you can run in it without having to worry about any loose or flappy bits for a Slitheen to hook it's claws into." John was greeted with the most confused glance from Adam.

"… yes as a matter of fact, we have that style…" he said in a very monotonous tone.

"Oh, brilliant! Just like I thought," he beamed. "It amazes me how this universe isn't so different from the other one. That means you'd have it in the sizes I want. I'd like the large size please. Y'see, Rose. This foxy body of mine is just right to fit into any large suit. I was practically made for them!" Rose couldn't but burst out laughing at a previous memory.

"…" Adam stared at this strange man. Seeing as he seemed it to be appropriate, Adam went along with it. "We have it in various colours-"

"Oh, I want a blue one," John blurted. "Urm, not a baby blue one or a navy one -  _we-ll…_ it's close to navy blue and I didn't mean the song  _"Navy Blue"_ by Diane Renay – brilliant singer she was by the way. But yeah, just a bit lighter than navy blue. Oh, just make sure it also has red pinstripes. Not bright red, more like a rusty red!" John added, only to be nudged by Rose.

"I think he knows what he's doin'," she murmured, offering poor Adam a smile of apology. "Sorry, he's delusional," she said, finally getting her back. John suddenly remembered something.

"Can I also have a brown one with light blue pinstripes?" he quickly realized. "Size large of course."

By then, Adam had already bolted into the stock room.

**…**

John ambled around the changing rooms in his new brown suit, trying to adjust to the slightly looser fit. Strange… he must have lost a bit of weight… He halted in front of a mirror and pivoted, glancing at the side view followed by spot checks. Then he hummed in approval.

"Someone's happy."

John spun on his heel and saw Rose walking into the changing room, grinning at his new appearance. "Have I lost weight, Rose?" She laughed at the question – he was skinny enough! And then faltered at his slightly serious face and studied him for a moment.

"No, I don't think so. Why, is it botherin' you?"

"No, not really," he mumbled, fiddling with his brown tie. "Sorry I'm dragging you into this…"

"Stop being so hard on yourself, John." Rose retorted. "Besides, I chose to come with you."

No one else was in the changing room besides John and Rose and he wondered whether what he was meaning to say to her was the right thing to do at this time.

_It's only four words, John. Just say it! You're part Time Lord - you can do anything._

Suddenly his confidence shattered and he simply said, "thank you." If it weren't for that inner Donna, he might have had that chance to man up and say it.

"Have you tried the other suit?" Rose began to ask.

"Yup!" he replied, popping the "p".

"You happy with the fit?" she asked, making sure she wasn't going to spend her money recklessly. John shook his head petulantly.

"This foxy body fits large suits like two complementing jigsaw puzzles," he said, before frowning. "I really shouldn't be talking like this," he mumbled, scratching the back of his head. Rose couldn't help but laugh. He was exactly like the Doctor she knew. But that same question popped up in her head for the hundredth time: does she love John for who he is, or who he's like?

"So," Rose began, trying to bring herself out of thought. "Adam Mitchell…"

"I know!" John replied, almost enthusiastic but with the same kind of worry Rose had.

"I thought he was a computer genius, why's he workin' in a  _shop_?" she boggled.

"New universe," John supposed with a shrug. "Maybe some things  _can_ change…"

As if on cue, Adam walked in with a burgundy tie John asked for. What he didn't notice were the long gazes he was receiving from Rose and John. "Anything wrong?" he queried. Rose looked at John with an expression that said,  _"I regret nothing"_ which made him worry slightly. She couldn't help but grin as she snapped her fingers, hoping for something to happen. She snapped it again to confirm her thoughts. But nothing happened and she gaped at John. They burst out laughing leaving a bewildered Adam. "Right, well I've got everything you've asked for, John. I'll be at the counter if you need anything…" He walked out of the changing rooms hoping to God they won't be regular customers.

**…**

With a wave to Adam, Rose and John left the suit store after a few bickering over what tie design suited John. They came out of the shop where darkness had already approached the skies and the cold became even colder to a point where wearing a coat was mandatory. Anyone could tell that within the next couple of hours, they'd be greeted by rain. Frankly, it wasn't a surprise seeing as this was England. John had been the hesitant one and kept insisting that he'd eventually pay Rose back for the surprisingly unimaginable amount of zeros that covered the expenses of both suits just purchased.

"John, I'm the daughter of a millionaire. I've got lots of money," she simply stated, grabbing John by the lapels and buttoning up his suit. "Now shut up. You offered me a room in the TARDIS, taken me to places I never even thought existed and made me realize how special we humans are. No amount of money can compare to that, so buyin' your clothes is the least I can do." John forced a smile. He still wasn't convinced he should let Rose go through all this trouble just for him. He looked at the commotion around them and gave an uneasy hum.

"Looks like we're gonna have a bit of trouble getting to the car park," he murmured, indicating the groups of wild teenagers loping out of a nearby nightclub with no co ordination with their legs whatsoever and screaming a string of insults. "I'll get the car and you can wait here."

"No, I didn't say we're done," Rose began, pulling his sleeve.

"We're not?"

"We're getting you casual clothing, John," Rose declared, already pulling him to a nearby  _Abercrombie and Fitch_ store.

"But-but we've already gotten my casual clothing," he complained, lifting up his suits and trying to put some weight on his footing to try make it hard for Rose to drag him into the store. "Rose you don't need to buy any more-"

"John," she warned and sighed for what she was about to say. "You've gotta take advantage of that foxy body so the best thing you can do is wear some decent clothes." John looked taken aback and Rose sighed. "Pinstripes and trainers are perfect, but at least have some variation." Then he sighed.

They entered the store just as a female shop assistant approached them with a welcoming smile. "Hi! How may I help you two?" Rose glanced at John who already had that nervous look on his face. She couldn't help but laugh at the next thing she was going to say.

"My friend here," she said, nudging John. "He's… he's moved in from the Brazilian favelas..." John glared at Rose and she started to speak before he even objected. "But his luggage got stolen by some Mexican pirates from the boarder after his first stop in California before boardin' his plane. Could you help me choose clothes for his entire wardrobe?" John gaped at Rose as she gave him the most innocent smile. The shop assistant looked at the two in complete and utter bewilderment, not just because of what Rose just said, but also the fact that this man needed an  _entire_ wardrobe of new clothes. She never had costumers who were  _that_ keen on throwing their money around.

"… Oh." Well seeing as they found it appropriate, she tried to go with it, too. "I hope I don't intrude in asking, but when you say  _"entire wardrobe"_ , does that also mean underwear?"

"Oh yes please!" Rose replied rather enthusiastically. Maybe a bit too enthusiastically… John's face flushed red as he had that inner urge to run out of the shop. Well there's his dignity being rolled around in shards of glass… The shop assistant forced a smile.

"Well, if you would like to come with me. The men's section is this way."

**…**

John and Rose entered their apartment feeling utterly exhausted. Rose was the first to speak before collapsing on the sofa without even bothering to take her jacket off.

"So how was your first day?" She asked. John threw his new long brown coat on a nearby dining chair and slumped on the sofa next to Rose.

"Alright, I guess," he contemplated. "Didn't really do much except catalogue a few alien artifacts and clean up the explosion…"

"Explosion?!"

John gave a cynical smile and sighed. "Ted mistook a Sontaran fragmentation grenade for a Magic Eight ball…"

"Oh my God, is he alright?" she gasped, but John waved it off.

"I snatched the grenade and threw it halfway across the room before it detonated on him," he replied indifferently.

"Why didn't you sonic it or somethin'?"

He sighed at that. "It had a three second timer before it detonated and we wasted two of those seconds panicking over why it made a strange beeping noise." Rose laughed at that and John glanced at her. "Your dad thinks travelling around space and time is dangerous, why not make him work with the AT department." Rose smirked before hesitating to snuggle up to him. She nervously did so and John noticed this and instictively wrapped his arms around her. Rose fell into deep thought. She was seriously beginning to wonder whether agreeing to grow the TARDIS was in fact a good idea. Yeah, it would be just like the old days, but did she want to start a new life being constantly reminded of  _him_? But if it made John happy, she'd be happy. Besides, she promised a happy life with him for the Doctor.

John looked around rose's apartment for the first time and noticed the disheveled state it was in and frowned. "When was the last time you cleaned?" Rose looked taken aback by the question and John bit his lip. "I'm sorry, was that rude?" She slowly nodded and his ears turned pink in embarrassment. "I'm sorry," he repeated lamely.

"When it was just myself, mum, dad, Mickey and Jake in this universe, I couldn't really just stand around and do nothin' when I could be findin' a way to get to you in your universe," she continued. "Hence the Dimensional Canon," she quickly added and nervously smiled. "I didn't really spend much time here..." John studied Rose and forced a smile of reassurance, only to see her well up and wipe her eyes with her sleeve in an attempt to prevent any tears from seeping out. He stared in sheer horror.

"I'm sorry!" he instinctively cried out, unsure why he was sorry…

"No it's not you…" Rose murmured and he let out a winding sigh. John took a brave step of asking the next thing.

"Is it  _him_?" he carefully asked, trying not to prod too hard at the situation.

"Well, of course it's him!" she snapped. "I've loved him for nearly six years and I spent two years bein' thrown around universes to look for him. Then he dumps me here with a man who looks like him and every time I look at him, I'd die inside or try to excuse myself just to cry." John recoiled from her words, pursing his lips before they trembled. He cursed his human biology. Slap on the hormones and Donna's emotional behaviour and in no time, he was crying. It was Rose's turn to stare in horror. "Oh my God, I'm so, so sorry, John." She apologized repeatedly, cupping his face in her hands and wiping the tears with her thumbs. He sniffed and nodded.

"I understand…"

"You always say that," she objected. "How do you cope with me after wha's happenin'?" she joked, trying to lighten the mood. He looked at her with child-like eyes.

"Because I love you." He simply stated with a bit of a stammer. He seemed to pick up a bit more confidence he thought he never had. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you, I want to make you happy. If you start crying, I start crying. You're beautiful and brilliant and-and I really feel like a sappy idiot who's just practically splayed out my soul before your eyes…" he muttered, tugging at his ear – a trait John took from the doctor which surprisingly amused Rose. She studied him for a moment.

"You said you have the same thoughts as him," she said, trying to ease the awkwardness. "If you love me, that means he loves me, right?" John nodded.

"And you're wondering why he would leave you here if he loves you?" he began, seeing where Rose was trying to get at. She in turn, nodded. John hummed in thought, trying to think of an analogy or something easy to understand to explain. "You remember that night back at the café with Sarah Jane?" She gestured for him to continue. "I said you could spend the rest of your life with me, but I couldn't with yours."

"That's why you left Sarah Jane," Rose summarized. John nodded; relieved she understood what he was trying to get at.

"I think the Doctor loves you so much he left you here to live a meaningful and happy life without him because it would kill him to see you… well, die..." he murmured. That last part made Rose wince a little. "And he knows you don't like to see him upset," he quickly added. "I was just the unexpected bunch of numbers in the equation.  _We-ell…_  more like the icing on the cake," he added with a weary smile, which then turned to a serious expression. "Rose, I understand if you don't want me-"

"No."

John felt another stab in his heart and nodded. "Okay."

"No, I want you." She thought out loud. "If that's what he what he's thinking, and I trust you for that, then that settles it." John gaped at her.

"You mean…"

"Yes, but like I said: One step at a time." Rose concluded. "It will take time. It's just that..." She stopped, trying to think about how to say the next thing. "I never thought I'd ever come back. I thought the moment I'd find him, we'll be off and I even said my goodbyes to everyone before jumping around universes in the dimension canon. I was never prepared to come back, let alone be stuck here with you. I mean to be with someone who looks, talks, acts, thinks and remembers like him."

"I understand," John said for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. He let out a winding sigh as Rose bore John's eyes.

"Thank you."

"Oh, don't be silly, I just cried my eyes out," he chuckled. "I don't know how you humans could cope with all these hormones."

"No, really. Thank you," she said with genuine gratitude. "I think we needed all this. I mean lettin' out our feelings and all." John looked at her for a moment.

"Yeah…"

Silence enshrouded the two as John made to fumble with the fabric on his new suit. "Have you heard from my dad?" Rose asked, breaking the silence.

"Your dad? He's probably still with Jake." He whistled. "Must be something big to call in the big cheese…"

"Yeah, dad's never been out at work for this long," Rose murmured. Worry suddenly flashed her face. "You think he's alright?" At once John looked at her.

" _Pete?_ " He exclaimed, as if pointing out the obvious. "Of course he'll be fine! You Tylers are better than fine."

**…**

They fell asleep again. But this time, and to Rose's surprise, they were on the living room floor. They must have subconsciously fallen off the sofa considering it's narrow space for the both of them. They were wearing their clothes from the day before. Honestly, it would be a mistake to assume she would customarily sleep in a pink top, black leather jacket, jeans and trainers, and John in his brown pinstripe suit, brown tie and Converse. It wasn't a particularly nice feeling to wake up to… Rose was the first one to wake up. She noticed her puffy eyes and face tingling from dry tears. She dreamt of  _him_. Again. Rose blinked and found herself spooned in John's grasp. She had that sense of déjà vu. She wrinkled her nose as she felt his messy hair tickling her nose and realized his head was lying on her chest. Cautiously, she wriggled her way free and clambered from the floor, intending to shower away the sweat of the day before, but felt her stomach rumble so she trudged towards the kitchen doing her general morning routine instead. Feeling utterly groggy she let her hand hover over the tray of cutlery. Eventually, her mind became clear, as her brain began to function properly and she picked up a butter knife.

That's right, she was making toast.

She pulled the fridge door, took the tub of butter as the toaster pinged and she turned her head to the tingly smell of slightly burnt bread. She looked back at John who was lying on the carpet, his mouth open and snoring and his body splayed out like an upside down turtle in the middle of the living room. The rare sight made her silently chuckle. His hair was what caught her attention – no matter what; it was always in a state where simply flattening it down would become impossible. That was in its normal state; she came to understand what his hair was like before waking up from bed. Rose approached the toaster until a tune began playing up, piercing the blissful silence that made her jump a meter in the air.

_"I remember doing the Time Warp, drinking those moments when…"_

She halted and a look of confusion flashed her face.

_"The blackness would hit me and the void would be calling, let's do the time warp again…"_

Rose noticed a mobile phone vibrating and alive with light on the kitchen countertop and burst out laughing at the ringtone. It came to her attention that her phone wasn't TARDIS blue… was it John's? Wait, since when did he get a phone?

_"Let's do the time warp agaaaiiinnn!"_

She approached the phone and read  _"Pete Tyler"_ on the screen.

It was her dad.

Why is her dad calling him at this time of the day?

"Step away from the phone, Rose Tyler," the voice of John declared pointing an accusing finger at a bewildered Rose with a lop-sided grin. When did he wake up?

_"Let's do the time warp again!"_

"Nice ringtone," she quipped.

"Yes, thank you," John muttered, ears turning pink in embarrassment and going for his mobile phone.

_"It's just a jump to the left..."_

"Wait, since when did you get a mobile phone?" she boggled.

"When I was sorting out my paperwork at Torchwood," he replied indifferently. "Your father was insistent I get a mobile phone. I've never really been keen on these things," he murmured, holding the phone.

_"And then a step to the right…"_

"It's your dad," he said to Rose in a tone of surprise.

"No, it's Pete the plumber," Rose exclaimed over the still ringing phone.

"We have a plumber called "Pete"?" John boggled before noticing the look on Rose that practically shouted,  _"it's sarcasm, you idiot"_. "Ah…" he breathed, drawing the phone to his ear and mumbling.

"Hello?"

_"John, come to Torchwood now."_ Pete exclaimed over the phone. The Doctor gave a confused look and exchanged glances with Rose.

"Is something wrong?"

_"YES! Come to Torchwood immediately. We've found something that needs your attention..."_


	4. The Old Days

"Eighteen hours," Pete declared. " _Eighteen hours!_ " he repeated louder, flailing his arms and eventually placing them back on his hips. He walked around his desk and behind it again. Then he looked at John and Rose, who were sat uneasily behind his desk.

"Yes, we understand simple time, Pete, but could you please elaborate on what's been going on for eighteen hours?" John asked.

Rose groaned. John had such a big mouth - combine that with Donna's mannerisms… She immediately shook her head.

"Eighteen hours since I left Torchwood to investigate a crash site," he explained slowly. "And on a typical case like that, I'm not needed because my men are trained to sort that stuff out."

John and Rose shrunk in their seat as Pete began encircling them, like prey. Pete's tone seemed like he was scolding them and frankly, John and Rose felt as if they were in trouble for something they had no idea about.

"John, I think you have some explaining to do."

"I do?" John boggled. "Ohhh…"

" _"Oh"_?" Rose echoed, expecting something big from John.

"I didn't tell you about the process of growing the TARDIS…" he said the last few words a little more hesitantly.

A look of confusion flashed Pete's face.

"What?"

"I may have borrowed a few of your operatives to go into the vaults to help find some equipment and materials to built a chamber for the TARDIS coral to grow in. It's to ensure no radiation or any harmful stuff gets in or out of the TARDIS whilst we focus high concentrations of energy into it…" John trailed off, twiddling with his thumbs to try and avoid Pete's gaze. "I may have borrowed some plexiglass… and some energy capacitors, class E and non-class E cables, lead rods, twenty five liters of water and some bananas from the canteen…"

Pete frowned.

"Oh, no wonder we were short of men," Pete supposed. "Wait, bananas?"

"You can't work on an empty stomach, right?" John feebly asked with a weary smile, making Rose giggle.

"Wait, you borrowed my men for  _that_?"

John blinked in realization. "… Wait, you didn't want to talk about that, didn't you?" he murmured.

To their surprise, Pete's serious face turned into a grin.

"Oh, I'm just kidding with ya!" her dad chortled but John and Rose exchanged glances. "It's  _big_ news!" He exclaimed.

"Is it?" John asked with mock surprise. Pete withdrew and arched a brow.

"But you're gonna have a lot of explaining to officials about the lack of men at the crash site," he said with a serious tone. But his lips tugged a grin. "Oh, you should have seen the look on your faces!" he chuckled, and then searched his pockets. "Where's my phone? I should have taken a picture of your faces." Rose and John sunk in their chairs, feeling like they've just stressed out for nothing. "You like my play acting? Or was I too cheesy? I was trying to look like an angry dad," Pete wondered.

"No, no… I should call in Steven Spielberg," John murmured. Rose couldn't help but laugh at his sarcasm. Pete clapped his hand as he sat back down on his chair.

"So back to business," He began. "At around 4am yesterday, Jake's squad had to clear up a crash site in a remote area of Carngafallt in Wales. The Cardiff Rift activity seems to be getting more active as the days go by, but what we didn't expect to come out of it was this." Pete produced a diamond pendant and watched John ogle at the object.

"That's a warp star," John breathed, taking the pendant in his hands and cautiously turning the diamond in the light.

"Isn't that the thing that Sarah Jane had that Jack threatened to use against the Daleks?" Rose wondered. "Back in the other universe?"

"Yeah…" he muttered. "Never thought I'd see this again."

"Oh, so you  _do_ know what it is!" Pete beamed.

"You should store that carefully," John warned. "Don't judge it by its small size. It's got enough energies in there to create a powerful explosion. You're lucky Torchwood got to this before anyone else. Omega knows what catastrophic event could happen if it fell in the wrong hands…" Pete whistled at the thought.

"You have my word on that," he reassured, then pulled out his phone. "Well, that's what I really called you in for. Thanks for your help, John."

"…" John gaped at Rose's father. "You brought me in. On a Saturday morning. To classify a piece of alien artifact." He said each sentence slowly, trying to process it in his mind out of distraught.

"Yeah, I hope I wasn't distracting anything…"

"Dad, it's okay," Rose chipped in, trying to end this so she could go back home.

"Why couldn't the AT department do it?" John complained oblivious of Rose's existence and pouting like a little child.

"Well, they're not much use if they don't know what it is…" Pete reasoned. John sighed and buried his head in his hands. Then he looked up to the pendant on the table and back at Pete with wide eyes. "What?"

"The warp star…" John thought out loud. He suddenly slapped the heels of his palms against his forehead, making Rose jump on her chair. "Oh I'm so stupid!" he yelled. "I'm  _thick_! Just a body with a bloody head!" He jumped from his chair and began pacing the room, hands ruffling his hair as he jumped on the spot from time to time. Rose watched him mutter to himself. It reminded her of  _him_ back on the TARDIS…

"John, keep it down!" Pete hissed, flailing his arms as if it would attract John's attention. Apparently not…

"Rose, do you know what this means?" John exclaimed, grabbing Rose by the arms and pulling her out of her seat.

"No what does it mean, John?" She asked excitedly with a little hint of worry. They were practically bouncing on the spot.

"It means, Rose Tyler…" he began, letting go of her and rounding on the table to pick the warp star. He dangled the pendant in front of Rose's face. "We've found an energy source," he breathed. "Detonate the warp star, it creates a powerful explosion enough to wipe out the Earth. Triplicate the energy given out from the explosion using the energy amplifier and… well… there's enough energy to match the sun."

"That's brilliant," Rose murmured, feeling a smile tug at her lips. Rose and John gazed at each other for a moment, smiling at this new and ingenious idea.

"No,  _I'm_ brilliant," John corrected with an idiotic grin.

"That's  _stupid_!" Pete suddenly exclaimed, tearing John from thought.

"What?" the part Time Lord boggled, feeling insulted. "Excuse me, no human could have thought of that in two seconds!" Pete sighed.

"John, I'm not letting you detonate that. You said it could wipe out the Earth."

"Duh…" John jeered, trying to point out an obvious point clearly Pete didn't see. "What's the plexiglass, energy capacitors, class E and non-class E cables, lead rods and twenty five liters of water for? I'm making a chamber not just to create space for the TARDIS coral to grow in. I'm making the process as safe as humanly possible.  _We-ell…_ " he trailed off. "When I say "human", I mean human with a touch of Time Lord ingenuity of course," he smirked and Rose rolled her eyes at that. "If I could modify the properties of your plexiglass to give it similar characteristics to that of Vinvocci glass, I'll be able to reduce the amount of wasted-"

"John, shut up," Pete murmured, feeling absolutely dumb after John's unfinished explanation. He scrubbed his face with his hands as Rose gave her dad a sympathetic smile.

"He's always like this, dad," Rose began. "Just smile and nod every time he breathes between sentences."

"Oi!" John looked at the Tylers with an arched brow. "So whad'ya say, Pete?" Pete sighed and glanced at his daughter. She had that defiant stare – something he'll never get past. The look of Jackie Tyler.

"Just tell me what you want to say," he murmured. And with that, Rose grinned and leaned over her father's desk to hug him.

"Thanks," she whispered in Pete's ear.

"Like I said," Pete accepted, letting go of Rose. "I can't really let you two down."

The Doctor's mobile phone suddenly rang and he peered at the text message he received and groaned.

"The AT department need me," he sighed.

"Again?" Rose groaned.

"They can't live without me," he chuckled in a very sarcastic manner, shrugging on his long brown coat. "I'll be back in a tick…" John hesitated for a moment and gave Rose a quick peck on the cheek before heading out of Pete's office.

Rose watched John hurry into an elevator, feeling slightly warm inside after his unexpected action. That was the first time he ever showed any proper affection towards her without reacting in a bad way or a way that may have affected John. It had already been two days in the universe with him and they've already made it this far… Perhaps her mum was right about one thing. Maybe it  _was_ working.

**…**

He stormed through the two white doors and tossed his long brown coat on a nearby lab table before edging towards his colleagues.

"Now what is so important that the matter requires to excuse me from my Saturday morning?" John announced with impatience in his voice. "Again," he added.

He noticed all five of his colleagues circled around a large metal box of alien tech – possibly shipped in during his little talk with Pete. They looked up to him with innocent smiles and he sighed, scratching the back of his head. "That's  _your_ job to catalogue the alien tech on a Saturday morning," he groaned.

"We're just a little wary that one of them might explode on us," Ted meekly replied, recalling a moment.

"And half of them we don't even know what they are," Ollie chipped in.

"Then why didn't you catalogue the other half?" The Doctor frowned.

"Half was just an exaggeration, sir."

The Doctor rolled his eyes and dug his hands into the large silver container that nearly reached half his height. He plucked objects out one by one and called out each of their names without having to study them. "Sycorax sword, Xylok Crystal, thermal clamps, book scanner – does what it says on the tin, a telepathy pendant, a Sontaran blaster – wouldn't wanna touch that, a copy of  _The Fog_?" John boggled, picking up a metal cube and sliding a finger across one of its sides lighting up and giving a warm white glow. "What's an intergalactic book doing here?" He shook his head and continued with the alien objects in the crate. "Magna-clamps, portable prison cell, Ukkan library card,  _Ukkan library card_?" He echoed with an arched brow. He held the sleek gold card that lit up at the press of a button and eventually shrugged and tossed the card to Ollie. "Null field generator, Myter headset, universal translator, a quantum transducer- no, Ted, you wouldn't wanna press those buttons!" he shouted as he lunged out at the young man who had the piece of alien tech. He took the quantum transducer and gave a wry smile, "Don't worry, it doesn't blow up." The other colleagues stared as the doctor continued sorting through the container. He certainly made their jobs a hell lot easier and thankfully, they all got along with each other.

John clapped his hands in triumph. "That's it? Please tell me that's it," he pleaded. Ted smiled and nodded and the Doctor scampered off, grabbing his coat and waving his last goodbyes to the AT department before walking down the white corridors. He checked his phone and noticed six missed calls from Rose and sighed. So much for Saturday mornings…

"Oh hello, good looking."

John came to an abrupt halt as the seemingly familiar voice caused him to perk his head up from his phone. "I'm sorry, were you…" his voice faltered as he turned around and saw a tall man with handsome features and dark brown hair standing in the middle of the hallway holding various files. He sported the black Torchwood soldier uniform, but judging from the shoulder markings on his uniform, he must be a higher up. Had Torchwood in this universe gone military since then? " _Jack?!_ "

"Oh, have we met?" the man wondered in that American accent, scrunching his face in concentration. "I'm sorry, did our last encounter involve a lot of glasses of Hypervodka? Y'see, I might not have remembered. But if the answer to that question was a  _"no"_ …" He held up his right hand and gave that infamous charming smile. "I'm General Jack Harkness. But you can call me Jack. And  _who_ are you?"

 _General?_  Blimey…

John frowned. "Stop it," he instinctively said. But the shock of seeing this man in another universe took over him and John just gaped at the man in front of him. He looked exactly like the Jack he knew oh so long ago, except with flattened hair that gave him the look of a rugged schoolboy.

"What?" Jack asked in, slightly taken aback and crossing his arms. Then he chuckled. "That's the first time someone has ever reacted to me in that way. You're gonna be one hard guy to get into bed."

"Stop it," John warned again and Jack raised his arms in surrender.

"Okay, okay!" he exclaimed in mock shock. "So that means you're taken by any chance?" John's face turned red and Jack couldn't help but grin. "When someone blushes, does that mean,  _"yes"_?"

"Blimey, Jack!" John cried out. "You're even worse than the other you!"

"Huh?"

John shut his mouth, eyes wide and hoping to God this universe's Jack didn't get what was said.  _Omega_ , how can he be so stupid?!

"There are two of me?" Jack wondered. Then he laughed. "Wow, there must have been a  _lot_ of Hypervodka involved…"

"… Something like that…" John lied with a sigh. "So," he began, trying to change the topic. "You work in Torchwood?"

Jack arched a brow and he had the sort of face that practically screamed,  _"well done, Sherlock."_

"Yeah," he replied with a smile and gestured at his black uniform. "I'm temporarily in charge of investigations here, but I actually run the Cardiff base." He shifted a bit on the spot. "This uniform is pissing me off though… it crimps my style."

"Oh, so there's a Cardiff base?" John thought out loud, totally oblivious of that last remark.

"Wow, where have you been for the last three years?" Jack laughed but John couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

"You know… out and about," he murmured. "I'm actually new here. I work at the AT department."

"Oh,  _that_  department," Jack trailed off, trying to show no sort of bad judgment. Clearly everyone had it bad for the AT department… "Sorry, no offence, but my Cardiff team could tell a piece of alien technology from a Magic Eight ball," he added with a wry smile.

"Oh you heard about-"

"Yeah," Jack interrupted. "Good job by the way," he began. "With the  _'throwing the Sontaran fragmentation grenade across the room'_ bit." John tugged his ear as a smile nearly tugged at his lips.

"Thanks…?"

"Speaking of my team, I bet they're wondering where I am," Jack chuckled, fumbling around his pockets.

"Yeah, London's pretty far away from Cardiff…" John added.

"Actually, it wasn't just myself that started temporarily working here. My team is here in London," Jack replied indifferently, putting on an earpiece. "We're in the middle of investigating Case 132." Curiosity got the better of John.

"Why, what's happening?"

"You haven't heard? Oh, of course you haven't heard. You're new here," Jack quickly added that made John roll his eyes. "London's been facing some strange disappearances," he declared with a tone of seriousness John really didn't think existed in him, given his somewhat annoying nature. "So far, there have been three disappearances. There are no links whatsoever between the victims, except that they are women and the fact that they're found dead three days after their disappearance. Autopsies show their bodies were found at least two hours after their time of death."

"Three days?" John boggled. "That's a rather long time to kill your victims. Unless you'd want them to have a slow and painful death…" He winced at the thought. He never really liked thinking in perspective of a murderer…

"What interests me is that all their causes of deaths are the same: Drowning," Jack stated, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked up in thought.

"… That's a bit of a rubbish murderer," John blurted.

"Hey, this is a serious case," Jack warned.

"No, if you think about it…" John trailed off, furrowing his brow. "Drowning's pretty quick. And unspectacular." He added, recalling a very old memory.

"Exactly," Jack chirped. "Why would you abduct someone, then kill them three days after you kidnap them? What would you do to them before you would kill them?" John gave a nervous look, followed by a shrug to show that it seemed rather casual. Frankly, it felt awkward for a Time Lord who'd never committed the deed.

"Sex?"

Jack stared at John for a moment as a brief and awkward silence was bestowed upon them. Then he laughed making John blush in slight embarrassment.

"That's what I thought!" Jack exclaimed, as if thinking the same idea was a great achievement. "But the autopsy results show none of the victims engaged any sexual activity in the last 48 hours of their death. Heck, their bodies showed no signs of a struggle. None of them! I even got my special medic to triple check it. You should meet him by the way, he's a nice guy."

"Oh, I like a medic," John beamed, clearly forgetting their once serious conversation. "What's his name?"

"Owen Harper," Jack replied. "Averaged size, short brown hair, loves white lab coats with badges on them. You should stop by at the Torchwood ward and talk to him. Can't leave him alone with that singularity scalpel…" John's eyes widened at that last bit.

"He can use a singularity scalpel?" he asked, surprise and acknowledgement in his voice. "The alien medical device that concentrates energy on an object without damaging anything on its way.  _That_ singularity scalpel?" Jack looked taken aback by John's sudden outburst.

"Yeah. How do you know about a piece of alien technology no one's heard of?"

"I told you," John began with a smirk. "I work at the Alien Technology department. I know what I'm cataloguing." Jack rolled his eyes at that. "Blimey, you're a lucky general to have him on your team. Not a lot of medics can use a singularity scalpel… what species is he?"

"…" Jack stared at the man.  _Species?_ Seeing as it seemed rather casual, Jack simply went along with it. "Human…"

"Owen's human?"

"Yes… why, is he hiding something from me?" Jack wondered. "I made it specifically clear about the  _"no secrets in Torchwood"_  thing… "

"No, no! It's just that I'm pretty sure humans don't learn how to use that kind of technology later on in your timeline… but I could be wrong. We don't know the future of this particular universe don't we? It's not like two universes can share the same future." It was then John realized what he just said that made Jack stare hard at this man with narrow eyes.

"I never got to ask," Jack murmured. "What's your name?"

"John. John Smith."

"You speak like you  _do_ come from the future, John Smith of the AT department," Jack laughed. John in turn, laughed very nervously.

"I'm a pretty superstitious person," he lied. "Fortune tellers intrigue me." Sometimes he wished he didn't have such a big mouth…

"Oh…" Jack murmured, pushing his holster aside to take out a vibrating phone. He looked up apologetically at John. "Duty calls," he merely said.

"I understand," John found himself saying. That should be his new catch phrase. How many times has he said that in the last two days?

**…**

It was one of England's rare sunny days and the temptation of getting out for some fresh air was all too big. As an apology for disturbing their morning, Pete offered a strictly Tylers-only afternoon out at Hyde Park - with the addition of John who had yet to meet up with them thanks to some job matters at Torchwood. Tony giggled as he pulled his older sister across the park and to the duck pond.

"Don't go too far you two!" Jackie called out to Rose in particular as she and her husband stopped in the middle of a crowd of people.

Rose smiled. Her mum always wanted to be famous in the other universe and it was nice to see her have a taste of her own medicine. Perks of being the millionaire's wife. She giggled at the thought as Tony perched beside the edge of the duck pond and stuck a hand out to touch a nearby duck.

"Where's your boyfriend?" her little brother suddenly asked after accidentally poking a duck and making it fly away.

Rose blushed, but couldn't exactly tell him the truth.  _Oh, I just texted him. He's coming soon. Oh by the way, he's not my boyfriend. He's just a man who looks like the man I loved for six years. He's half Donna and half Time Lord. Yes, he's part alien. No, it's not weird I love him - well, the real him. I'm not sure if I love this particular man yet, but he's starting to grow on me. I think you should just call him my friend._

"He's comin'," she simply replied. "He just had a few stuff to sort out at Torchwood."

"Your boyfriend works at Torchwood like you?" Rose winced at the noun.

"Yes, Tony, he works in Torchwood like me," she replied as nicely as possible, trying not to let out her annoyance. "Would you do me a favour and stop callin' him my "boyfriend"? He's not my boyfriend. He has a name and it's John."

"How come you're not working with him now?" he asked, totally oblivious to what Rose had just said.

"It's my day off and so is John's. He just got called in to do some work," Rose sighed. Tony frowned.

"That's not fair," he supposed. The remark made Rose smirk. "Do you think I can work in Torchwood when I'm older?" Rose took that question by surprise.

"Yeah, sure… I guess so," she replied, not entirely sure what to say.

Tony nodded and gave a broad, childish smile that made Rose smile back. She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand.

"It's a hot day today," she sighed. Tony nodded and Rose stood up. "Tell you what, you stay here and I'll get us some ice cream."

Her brother nodded eagerly this time and he stretched out into the pond to touch another duck. She clambered from the ground and sauntered off towards the ice cream van parked not too far from where she was. She looked back at Tony, making sure he was fine, and then preceded her journey only to bump into John. He held three ice cream cones that nearly dropped from the slight collision.

"Whoa, steady there, pink and yellow girl!" he laughed as Rose stumbled into him.

Thanks to the sun, Rose squinted at him and she gave a wry smile.

"John?!"

He gave a lop-sided grin as he handed her an ice cream cone. "I got you the double chocolate scoop with strawberry sprinkles and a flake stick – just the way you like ice creams to be," he grinned.

"Your timing is uncanny," Rose concluded to him and he winked.

"It's my specialty." Then he pointed his head at Rose's brother by the duck pond. "I wasn't really sure on what he wanted, but judging by his spiky blonde hair, the restless behaviour and large curiosity to poke anything that moves, I reckon he'll like this double scoop of vanilla and chocolate with extra chocolate sprinkles," he stated, showing her Tony's ice cream. "I added in a flake stick as my treat."

" _"Spiky hair, restless and large curiosity to poke anything that moves…"_ " Rose reiterated, licking her ice cream. "Sounds like someone I know," she teased, bumping him on the arm. "You know, for a moment, you sounded like the Doctor back then," she murmured.

John smiled at her sadly.

"Well, I technically  _am_ him…" he reasoned, knowing an awful lot of bickering was coming. Rose sighed.

"Please, John. Now's not the best time…" she muttered.

Tony spotted the two heading towards him and beamed at the uneaten ice cream cone John held in his hand. He dashed towards them and John grinned as the little boy who took the ice cream from him whilst Rose forced a smile after that little moment.

"Tony, that was rude of you to take your ice cream like that. Say sorry to John," Rose exclaimed, but John shook his head at the remark.

"It's fine, Rose."

But Rose's brother already murmured "thank you, Rose's boyfriend" with a mouthful of ice cream making him crack a smile. Rose blushed at that and simply dropped her head down to stare at the ground.

"Tony…" she wailed, but he was already bounding off towards the nearby kids' sand park.

"Tony, don't go into the sand park with your ice cream!" John called out just as the little boy spun around waving a nearly eaten ice cream cone. "Oh, blimey…"

"…" Rose blinked at that seemingly miraculous apparition. "He eats as quick as you…"

"Yeah…"

They approached the front of the kids' sand park and waited for Tony on a bench opposite the area in silence. Probably too silent for John's liking… "It's hard to get to grips with the fact that you are still  _him_ , but you're not…" Rose murmured, breaking the silence and talking as if she'd made a continuation of their brief chat not so long ago.

"Yeah, I see where you're going," John replied, not looking at Rose. "I guess it will take some time getting used to seeing this daft face whilst he's still out there, swanning off to see other worlds..."

"At least he's not alone," Rose reasoned out loud to herself. "He's finally got an equal. I mean him and Donna make a brilliant duo," she chuckled. John looked down in despair at what she just said. Some day or another, he'd eventually have tell her the truth... "So how are things on your side?" Rose asked, trying to change to a lighter topic.

"Fine, I guess," John trailed off. "You've no idea who I met today."

"Who?"

"Jack." John replied with an exasperated look.

"Oh, he's not in Cardiff?" Rose boggled. John looked at her in surprise.

"You knew he existed in this universe?" he wondered.

"Yeah, I met him once before. He was helping out with the dimensional canon. You think he's…" John shook his head instantly, knowing what she was going to ask.

"Nope," John replied. "He's hardly different compared to his other self in the other universe. Since the Satellite 5 event never occurred in this universe, I doubt he's immortal… he came over to London to investigate this case." John waved at Tony who was standing on top of a wooden pirate ship. "Something about disappearances."

"Must be big if his team were called down from Cardiff," Rose murmured.

"Yeah…" John trailed off, wondering whether he should talk to her about the details. It was then he realized he never got to tell Rose what he'd been meaning to say. Was it a suitable time to tell her? "I've nipped some time to prepare for the TARDIS growth process," John let out. He mentally cursed himself. Of course that wasn't what he wanted to tell her! Silence fell upon the two as they watched Tony play in the wooden forts.

"Soon, we'll be up there," Rose murmured following the silence between them for what seemed like the hundredth time in the last few minutes, looking up at the blue sky. John smiled at that and reached out to hold her hand. Both of them didn't speak, but allowed themselves to delve in the pleasure of the cool breeze that relaxed them from the warm sun.

"Just like old days," he mumbled, smiling a little. He didn't notice Rose looking utterly distant when he said that…


	5. Perks of Being a Millionaire

John greeted a few Torchwood operatives passing by along the white corridors and occasionally stopped for a brief chat. It was then he thought of stopping by Lab 10 to see how the TARDIS project was getting along. Torchwood was unusually quiet that day and, judging by the lack of people, they must be understaffed. Still, it didn't really bother John as it meant fewer distractions for him whilst he was still in the base. He approached two white sealed doors and shuffled to the security lock. With the touch of a few controls, he was in. In the middle of the enormous white room was the TARDIS coral encased in a plexiglass case. It was certainly going to grow, but at a  _very_  slow rate... An awful lot of patience would be required for this and John -being an alien who can't even sit still for two seconds without making something explode or running away from an angry mob- certainly couldn't bear the wait. They needed to start the process and frankly, they were just waiting for the go ahead from Pete. The construction wouldn't have gone three times quicker if it wasn't for John's unnaturally high intelligence and determination towards the project. The thought of going domestic for a while dawned on him, and he sighed outwardly.

A few scientists came over to greet him before going back to their usual tasks of monitoring the process. John walked ahead of the TARDIS coral and gazed at the magic of it all – a giant machine loomed up ahead that took over the entire wall of the lab. It was the energy amplifier Pete mentioned. In the middle was the unmistakable shape of the warp star, glowing a vivid red, then orange, and eventually yellow all inside a Vinvocci glass case that was wired up to the mainframe. John gazed at the machine. To think any of this could happen right in front of his eyes… He was beginning to feel really charmed with his new life. Maybe he spoke too soon. Thoughts of Rose clouded his mind. How was he meant to spend his life with her if she continues letting him sleep on the sofa? But the sofa was the least of his problems… His pager suddenly blipped and he read the little device. Typical. He was needed at the AT department. And with that, he silently waved at the scientists as he left the lab.

**…**

"So you're telling me…" Amy Pond trailed off, frowning at the information displayed on her computer. "Your daughter is living with an alien from another universe, and he's both brilliant and erratic," she summarized.

Pete gave her a weary smile.

"Something like that, yeah…"

"…" Amy blinked and concluded in a rather monotonous tone. "You'll have the paperwork done by tomorrow morning."

"Thank you," Pete said with total gratitude and exited the office.

He stepped out into the hallway and found his daughter smiling and strolling towards him clutching a pile of paperwork.

"Just got Amy to make a start on a back story for John. The public have gone ballistic about this new man who came out of nowhere being seen with you last night," he announced to his daughter, however she seemed a little preoccupied with a few sheets of paper falling from her arms.

Pete approached Rose and offered to carry the pile of papers to Rose's office and she nodded in thanks as she picked up some papers. They headed towards the elevator.

"Sorry, what were you sayin' back there?" Rose asked, feeling a little embarrassed for not listening.

They entered the elevator and she pressed the tenth floor button. The doors slowly closed, but a hand emerged from the crack of the two doors and they parted again. Pete blinked as John suddenly scampered into the elevator with them and smiled broadly at the two, his eyes crinkling. He noticed their questioning glances and realized.

"Oh!" He blurted, "Ted promised me he'll look after the AT department whilst I went to go check on preparations for our TARDIS project."

Both of them nodded slowly and Pete finally spoke.

"I've just got Amy to make you a back story," Pete said. "Only Torchwood operatives know of your real story. Well, about you being the Doctor and all, but nothing about his clone..."

"Oh, okay." John shuffled on the spot in uncomfortable silence. It was weird having a back story, let alone having a limited amount of people know who he actually was.

The elevator nearly reached the floor of the AT department as John composed himself and shrugged on his white lab coat. Rose thought the look made him ten times geekier which made a smile tug at her lips. She had to admit. He looked… cute.

"Oh, Pete, I hope you didn't mind me borrowing a couple of pieces of equipment from the vaults." John quickly mentioned with an innocent smile.

Pete sighed.

"John, could you just let me know when you're gonna borrow stuff from the vaults? Pete asked, searching around his pockets. "Wait, what did you take from the vaults?"

John pursed his lips in thought.

"… Decontamination sponge?" he practically asked nervously, finally wondering if it was a good idea to take the item.

"John, we  _needed_ that!" Pete exclaimed. "I had to postpone a field training because we had to question the whole of security regarding a missing item required for the training." John rubbed the back of his neck.

"Sorry," he lamely mumbled. "I'll return it soon." The elevator finally pinged and John instantly turned to Rose. "Looks like this is where I part," he mumbled, dreading what pelava he might find himself stuck in at the AT department as he sauntered out of the lift.

"John," Pete called out, placing a hand over a lift door to stop it from closing. The part Time Lord halted and glanced over his shoulder. "Take it easy," Pete continued. "And this goes for you, Rose. Things are happening in London and the last thing I want is to stand over your graves."

"Wow, that was a bit low," John murmured.

"Dad, nothing can get rid of us that easily," Rose assured. "But I have to agree with John. The graves thing was pretty low." Pete gave a nervous look.

"Sorry…"

John smirked, then nodded at Pete and Rose. "I'll see you at noon," he said, but noticed Pete's uneasiness. "Don't worry, Pete. You've got Jack's team investigating the case."

Pete nodded as he watched John swagger off back into the AT department.

**…**

Rose stepped out of the elevator to be greeted with a beaming Welsh friend. "Gwen!"

"Rose!" Gwen called out, walking towards Rose in a tight hug. Then they pulled apart. "I heard you came back. You haven't changed a bit," Gwen began. "The last time I saw you, you were so insistent to try the dimensional canon. Jack got so worried when you left."

"Jack Harkness.  _Worried_?" Rose wondered out loud. "About me?" she quickly added. The two friends began giggling getting looks from around the offices.

"Does he know you're back?" Gwen asked.

Rose shook her head with a grin.

"Jack's just been cooped up in his office at Cardiff. If it weren't for this case our team got sent down here for, he would have only left his office to go piss or take a shower."

Rose laughed at that.

"Sounds like a worried Jack," she quipped. Then she finally studied Gwen for a moment. It was then a thought struck her. "Hey weren't you-"

"Oh!" Gwen brought her hand up to silence and already silent Rose as she fumbled around her pockets. She produced a mobile phone and showed the wallpaper. Rose's gaped at the unmistakable photo of a baby. Gwen could only watch Rose's reaction with a grin.

"Is that…"

"Her name's Anwen," Gwen beamed. "And yes. I was still pregnant the last time you saw me."

"Blimey, he was right," Rose murmured to herself.

The Doctor always said there was quite a bit of a time difference between this and the other universe, but she never really came to terms with it… Gwen cleared her throat.

"I hope you don't mind me asking. But who's that tall, skinny and handsome bloke everyone's been talking about?" Rose rolled her eyes.

"If you mean  _"tall"_ and  _"skinny"_ , you must mean John. And before you ask, we're not together. We're just…" Rose trailed off, thinking of a suitable way to describe it all. "Really close friends." she summarized, but Gwen just simply grinned.

"That's what they say…"

"What?"

Before Rose had a chance to say anything, she heard her name being called out across the office floor. Obviously a field agent by his black uniform and holsters, someone clearly not of the tenth floor where all the office people worked, looked around and spotted Rose. He approached her with a friendly smile.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, Miss Tyler. My name is Alfie Lewis. Your father has requested for me to take you on a field mission with us."

"Aaand that's my cue to leave," Gwen said before flitting away from Rose.

"Why me?" Rose asked, beginning to feel slightly impatient.

"We have detected unusually high concentrations of calcium in the western side of London and according to our sources you have a relatively large amount of data regarding the Raxacoricofallapatorian race known as the Slitheen. We would like you to aid us with an encounter with a group of them. They seem to be causing quite a bit of a stir…"

"Why can't you get the Doctor?" Rose complained, never wanting to sit in her office and do paper work even more than having to go through any business with the Slitheen. Alfie gave a wry smile.

"Unfortunately, he's in Big Ben disarming a bomb right now."

"Big Ben," she echoed.

"The Slitheen," he huffed.

And with that, Rose walked back into the elevator.

So much for her dad's lecture about taking things easy… Now what was that about standing over her grave?

**…**

John scowled. When he told himself he wanted a laid back shift, he didn't expect to find himself standing next to the Big Ben bell trying to disarm a 5cm in width and length bomb powerful enough to hit three quarters of London strapped to the enormous bell. It took a few seconds before his mind finally processed what the hell was going on: A powerful bomb. Is stuck on the Big Ben bell. Great. Add the analogue timer that's indicating that he had ten minutes before London goes  _kaput_  and he was surely going to have a mental breakdown thanks to the nature of the stressful inner Donna. If he had to admit, he was beginning to feel pretty much bipolar… He shrugged off the thought and instinctively whipped out his sonic screwdriver, the precious item he made sure he "borrowed" from the TARDIS before coming to this universe. John glared at the little square bomb as if it personally insulted him when he realized the damn thing was triple deadlocked… He began to pry around the device with his bare fingers, but no luck until he noticed something etched on the side of the bomb. It was hardly legible but John could make out the letters  _"T.M"_ scratched on.  _T.M?_ What's the meaning of T.M? Initials? Brand name? There's a company that makes bombs and owns a brand? John was instantly torn away from his train of mental questions as the bomb suddenly glowed white. "What's it doing? Why's it glowing? I don't like glowing bombs…" John began to whine, running his hands against his hair until he looked like the perfect representation of a hedgehog. He noticed the timer flashing the number nine and groaned. He'd been thinking for a minute? Then if anything could have gotten any better, the bomb suddenly started speaking…

_"Nine minutes until detonation,"_ Came the robotic and smooth feminine voice of the bomb. John stared at the device in utter bewilderment. He already showed hatred towards the totally unfitting tone of the voice. Was the bomber out to annoy him?!

"Sir, if it's any motivation, sir," a burly brunette operative began. "We've only got nine minutes before the bomb detonates, sir."

"Yes, yes," John muttered, already growing annoyed of this new operative and his constant use of the word "sir". "Are you by any chance Johnny Smith?" The operative nodded eagerly, his oversized welding goggles nearly shying down his face before positioning it back onto his forehead.

"I'm part of the bomb disarming unit, sir." He replied with a proud smile.

"Yes, your reputation precedes you," John began; trying to sound as calm as he could, given his situation and the building stress he never thought he had in him. This was clearly the influence of Donna…

"Really?" Johnny beamed.

"Nice surname by the way," John quipped, feeling like he was the only one in the group of operatives trying to save London from a bomb. He glanced up and finally realized he  _was_ the only one trying to disarm the bomb much to his utter annoyance. "We have the same surname. Your first name's pretty similar to mine, too. Hooray, we win the game of life, now can you stop with the  _"sir"_ and get me the pliers!" John practically yelled under the influence of stress, impatience and irritation, realizing that was his behavior began to match Donna's. A look of fright flashed Johnny's face as he darted back to his backpack of items before passing a few tools to John who gave him a weary smile. "Sorry about that…"

"It's okay, sir," Johnny replied, only making john roll his eyes.

"Are you the only one from the bomb disarming unit?" John wondered, looking at the rest of the other Torchwood operatives holding guns by their front and casually strolling around, as if nothing was happening.

"Yeah" was the only thing Johnny said as he began rummaging through his bag. John frowned.

"So why did Pete send over a  _squadron_ of soldiers with me?!" he shrieked, rapidly moving his head to study the bomb. Johnny just gave a wry smile.

"He made it clear you were to be protected, sir," the operative replied, pulling out two rolls of wires.

_"Seven minutes until detonation."_

"We've got seven minutes, sir."

"Yes, okay!" John shouted, trying to untangle some stray wires he managed to pry out of the bomb. He had to stop the inner urge to rip the bomb out of its place and strap it on Johnny as if it would help anything.  _Blimey_ , Donna never took pressure nicely… "You there!" John called out to a nearby operative. "Hold this red wire. I just need to do something and it requires both of my hands." The operative nodded and tentatively approached the part Time Lord and held the wire as instructed as John darted to a silver brief case and picked up a shiny object. He looked up and noticed the view of the whole of Central London. "Nice view from the top of Big Ben," he noted.

_"Six minutes until detonation."_ Came that annoying feminine voice.

"Six minutes, sir!" Johnny called out.

**…**

They arrived at Rose's apartment in her standard Torchwood issue black Range Rover and its engines died down to a purr. It was John's turn to drive since he had the less physically demanding tasks that day, despite rushing into central London to disarm a triple deadlocked bomb in Big Ben. Who thought there were such things as Slitheen mafia gangs fighting each other across galaxies? Earth  _had_ to be a part in their feud… John didn't bother parking the car in the garage out of fatigue. He looked over at the passenger seat and noticed Rose's sleeping figure. He yawned and dropped his head on the steering wheel, accidentally slumping his head on the car horn and waking her. She jerked up from the sudden noise and groaned. Then slapped John's arm in a weak fashion.

"What?" he murmured.

"Carry me."

"What?" he asked, more loudly than what he intended it to be. He slowly craned his neck to face her.

"Carry me into the apartment," she mumbled before dozing off "You're sleepin' on the sofa yeah?"

John sighed and yawned for a second time. He stretched his arms and blinked for a moment. He peered at the digital clock on the dashboard and moaned when the time indicated that it was 11:45pm. He clambered from the driver's seat and nearly stumbled out of the door, then trudged around to the passenger door and unlocked it. After unbuckling her seatbelt, John picked up Rose in his arms and turned around, closing the car door with his foot. As he struggled to carry her towards the building, he gave another annoyed groan realizing he had to walk up a flight of stairs, despite the fact it was a two-storey apartment block. He peered at Rose in his arms. She slept peacefully and he wondered if she'd notice if he simply left her lying on the ground beneath him and hurried off to sleep in her warm cozy bedroom. After all, she gave him a spare set of keys yesterday so she has her own set in case she wakes up… John silently chuckled and shook his head.

He wasn't in the mood for practical jokes.

He took a first step up the stairs and sighed.

**…**

John tucked Rose into bed and kissed her on the cheek before she subconsciously frowned and then stirred. He looked out the window and eventually thought it was best to park the car in the garage - especially after arguing over who had to scrape frost from the windscreen early in the morning that day as London approaches Winter.

Feeling a little more alert, John shrugged on his coat and sauntered back out into the open night towards the garage. He began to feel droplets hitting on his face… Mustering all the energy he possibly could, he squatted, grabbed the garage door by its bottom handles and heaved it upwards. He had to get the car in before it started raining… If there was one thing he wished was different, it would have to be London's depressing weather. Enveloped by the darkness of the night, John felt a little wary and relied on the warm glow the nearest streetlamp emitted to help him see. He glared at the inky blackness of the garage and felt his way along the inner wall. He hummed as he felt the unmistakable shape of the light switch and flick it on. What he saw inside the fully lit garage made his jaw drop.

**…**

Jackie plodded into the bedroom and found Pete fiddling with his phone. She sighed and clambered into bed next to her husband.

"I just put Tony into bed," she whispered, trying to grab his focus.

He shifted a little, then pulled the red duvet towards him and eventually looked up at his blonde wife.

"Thank God," he sighed. "He's been doing my head in – says he wants to work in Torchwood when he's older… I want him to do something safer," he murmured, scratching the back of his head. Jackie sighed as well.

"You boys and your  _cool_ , big boy jobs," she said, trying to sound sarcastic. "Why can't boys these days do proper jobs like accountancy or bein' lawyers?" Pete looked at her with an arched brow and she rolled her eyes. "Can't believe it, though…" she trailed off.

"About…?"

"Have you seen those two lately?" Jackie began. "It's like they're  _tryin'_ to love each other…"

"Jackie, you've seen how we started off," Pete reasoned.

"John's been tellin' me that he keeps wakin' up in the middle of the night because Rose keeps on dreamin' of the Doctor - says she's been talkin' in her sleep and it's distressin' the poor sod. He's been tellin' me that he's tryin' to make her happy and all with the space ship thing-"

"TARDIS." Pete corrected only to be talked over by Jackie.

"But it's like she's forcin' herself to be happy. She says she loves 'im and then the next minute, she's clueless…" Jackie finished off.

"Since when were you John's counselor?" Pete quipped, only to be slapped lightly on the shoulder.

"Pete, I'm serious. I want you to talk to Rose tomorrow. I don't think those two are seein' sense. John says he's not enough for Rose and Rose doesn't even know if she loves him for who he is, or who he looks like."

As if on cue, Pete's phone suddenly rang and the two turned their heads to the electrical appliance that vibrated on the bedside table.

Who would call them at nearly midnight?

"Expecting some one to call you?" Jackie enquired, but Pete gave her the same confused look she gave him. He picked up the phone and answered the call with his typical opening.

"Pete Ty-"

_"Pete, you really didn't have to,"_  came the familiar voice on the other side of the call.

"John?"

" _It's just that it might have cost you so much and you really, really didn't have to,"_  John babbled. Pete's eyes glinted.

"What are you talking about?" He gasped in mock confusion.

_"Pete, I'm really touched, but seriously, take it back."_  Pete stifled a giggle but Jackie looked at him with a frown. He heard a few mumbling followed by the sound of Rose's excited squeal over the phone as a loud bang was heard on the phone followed by muffling. Pete blinked and assumed the Doctor must have dropped his phone because he heard the words  _"get back to bed, Rose,"_  over the phone and hung up. Instantly, Pete burst into a fit of laughter. Jackie gaped at her husband.

"What the bloody hell was that?"

"Well seeing as John has no TARDIS for a while and he'd been banging on about getting a faster ride, I bought him a custom designed BMW motorbike," he beamed. Jackie arched a brow. "I got him a helmet," he reassured, making her relax a little.

"Must have cost a lot…" she murmured.

"Perks of being a millionaire," he grinned.

 


End file.
